Judge to issue ruling on whether he can hear suit

EDWARDSVILLE — Administrative hearing on Madison County’s 911 consolidation plan is now scheduled to take three days in mid-September, but is likely to be put off until at least October.

At a hearing Tuesday afternoon on whether a Madison County judge has jurisdiction on hearing a lawsuit over the plan, it was noted that the state-level hearings reset Monday for Sept. 19-21 will probably be put off for at least several weeks because of scheduling problems.

The hearing before Circuit Judge David Dugan was over the local court’s jurisdiction to hear a lawsuit filed by Madison County’s Emergency Telephone System Board seeking to bar St. Clair County 911 from intervening in the state hearing. Madison County had sought an emergency injunction delaying the state hearing until the local case could be heard.

Dugan and the attorneys for all sides noted that the rescheduling of the state hearing to mid-September made the injunction a moot point right now, but he would have a ruling on jurisdiction within about 10 days.

Attorneys for both counties’ 911 systems, and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, argued in front of Dugan.

Madison County was to have implemented its 911 consolidation plan by Aug. 1, but delays in holding the administrative review hearing in Springfield have caused it to miss that deadline.

St. Clair County has challenged the legality of Madison County’s 911 plan, which calls for reducing 911 call centers, called pubic service answering points, to eight from 16. St. Clair County went to a single call center.

Madison County 911 has filed a suit in Edwardsville seeking a determination that St. Clair County has no legal standing in the state hearing.

Before that can be settled, the local court must determine whether it can hear the case.

All sides appear to agree that normally the local court would not have jurisdiction until after the administrative law judge has made a ruling.

However, Madison County ETSB attorney Ben Marble argued that there were six separate exceptions to that general rule that this case fell under, including a lack of language in the state law covering the hearing allowing St. Clair County to intervene and “irreparable harm” done to ETSB.

Assistant Illinois Attorney General Anapama Paruchuri argued that they had to wait until the administrative law judge ruled, and that under “sovereign immunity” the Circuit Court can’t overrule the administrative law court.

St. Clair County 911 attorney Kevin Kaufold argued that because the two 911 agencies are connected through intergovernmental agreements that the administrative law judge had originally given them several minutes to comment, then extended that time and eventually ruled they had standing to intervene.

“That kind of interconnection … established our interest,” Kaufold said, adding the Madison County plan would have “substantial impact” on St. Clair County.

Dugan asked a few questions as the attorneys made their arguments. Before announcing his decision to issue a ruling in about 10 days, he asked if that would impact Madison County’s 911 operations, and was told it would not.

“We’ll give it priority,” Dugan said, also noting he wants to consider separately the issues of jurisdiction and standing.